Propaganda entuziasmului. Scrisorile corespondenţilor voluntari. 1948-1965
The Propaganda of Enthusiasm. The Public Letters from Volunteer Correspondents. 1948-1965

Summary/Abstract: The public letters from volunteer correspondents published in „Scînteia” during Gheorghiu-Dej’s regime were in complete conformity with the goals of the Communist Party. This method, taken from Soviet practice, was fully used in this period to prove the solidarity and consensus between the rulers and ruled. According to official propaganda, the volunteer correspondents not only made known the achievements of the regime, but at the same time were the guardians of the party through their denunciation of enemies of the people who put in danger the building of socialism in Romania. The economic crises at the beginning of the 50’s forced the regime to adapt the content of these public letters, admitting the lack of goods on the market as well as their unsatisfactory quality. Therefore the propaganda apparatus fabricated through these public letters a presumed dialogue with society. As the regime strengthened its power, these public letters enabled it to shape the type of a new man: stakhanovist, at the fore in industry and agriculture, a man both inventor and ideologically committed.

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